Location | Park Street and Muzzy Street, Bristol, Connecticut, USA |
---|---|
Coordinates | 41°40′23″N72°57′34″W / 41.673176°N 72.959459°W |
Capacity | 4,900 |
Field size | 339 ft. (LF) 359 ft. (Left center) 402 ft. (CF) 369 ft. (Deep right center) 330 ft. (Right center) 326 ft. (RF) |
Construction | |
Built | 1912 (wooden stands) |
Opened | 1914 (official) |
Renovated | 1939 (brick grandstand) |
Expanded | 2012–15 |
Tenants | |
Bristol Blues (NECBL) 2020–present (FCBL) 2015–2019 Contentsbaseball and football |
Muzzy Field is a stadium in Bristol, Connecticut adjacent to Rockwell Park. In 1912, it was given to the Public Welfare Association [2] in the city of Bristol by Commissioner Adrian Muzzy in memory of his two sons, [3] for the express purpose of amateur athletics, [1] officially opening on 8 July 1914, [4] for both baseball and football. In 1939, after a fire, [1] the 4,900-capacity brick-faced grandstand was built. It features a ring of tall pine trees that line the outside of the outfield wall and the grandstand.
Muzzy Field hosts high school sports, primarily baseball and football. Three high schools use the field: Bristol Central High School, Bristol Eastern High School, and Saint Paul Catholic High School. Muzzy Field is the site of the football "Battle for the Bell" between Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central, held every Thanksgiving morning, with the winner claiming the bell for the following year.
In summer, Muzzy Field hosts collegiate baseball teams: since 2015, the Bristol Blues [5] of the New England Collegiate Baseball League; and formerly, the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club (2010) and the Bristol Nighthawks (1994–1995), both of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
In 1919, Babe Ruth hit a home run to a crowd of almost five thousand people. [1] Martín Dihigo, Warren Spahn, Satchel Paige, Johnny Mize, Vince Lombardi, Jim Rice, and Fred Lynn played at Muzzy Field. [1]
Muzzy Field was the home of the Double-A Bristol Red Sox of the Eastern League from 1972 to 1982. Former Boston Red Sox stars Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, and Butch Hobson honed their skills with the "BriSox." The ballpark also housed the old Bristol Owls of the Class-B Colonial League in 1949 and 1950, as well as various amateur baseball teams, notably the Bristol En-Dees and the local American Legion team.
The University of Hartford's baseball program used the venue for some home games prior to opening Fiondella Field in 2006. [6] Muzzy Field was the site of the Big East Conference baseball championship tournament from 1985 to 1995.
In 1991, Joe Archambeault put together a barnstorming exhibition New England Grey Sox team, including former Boston Red Sox players and other major-leaguers including Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Bob Stanley, Dick McAuliffe, Dick Radatz, Ozzie Virgil, and Mike Stenhouse. They played against a team of local men, the Undefeated Bristol Fradette Agency, on June 1, 1991, in front of 5,000 fans. [7]
In 2004 the stadium was also the site of an American Idol audition. [8]
In 2012 and 2013, the City of Bristol approved a renovation of the ballpark to include a new front entrance and public concourse, new lighting, seating, ADA improvements and a new grandstand enclosure along the Muzzy Street side of the stadium connecting to the existing grandstand.
Further renovations in 2015, coinciding with the arrival of the Bristol Blues club, included a new rooftop press box, an extension of the roof, and an electronic sign at the corner of Park and Muzzy Streets to advertise events. [9]
Riverside Park, located in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, was originally built in 1914 to serve as a spring training park for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1914 to 1917. Sometimes referred to as Tradewater Park, it is the only known baseball park in Kentucky to have hosted a major league team since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899. While the original stadium was destroyed in a flood in the 1930s, it was later rebuilt in 1999. Like the original stadium, the rebuilt park is reconstructed out of wood. It is the only ballpark of its kind in Western Kentucky.
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Braves Field was a baseball park located in Boston, Massachusetts. Today the site is home to Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University. The stadium was home of the Boston Braves of the National League from 1915 to 1952, prior to the Braves' move to Milwaukee in 1953. The stadium hosted the 1936 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and Braves home games during the 1948 World Series. The Boston Red Sox used Braves Field for their home games in the 1915 and 1916 World Series since the stadium had a larger seating capacity than Fenway Park. Braves Field was the site of Babe Ruth's final season, playing for the Braves in 1935. From 1929 to 1932, the Boston Red Sox played select regular season games periodically at Braves Field. On May 1, 1920, Braves Field hosted the longest major league baseball game in history: 26 innings, which eventually ended in a 1–1 tie.
South End Grounds refers to any one of three baseball parks on one site in Boston, Massachusetts. They were home to the franchise that eventually became known as the Boston Braves, first in the National Association and later in the National League, from 1871 through part of the 1914 season. That stretch of 43 1/2 seasons is still the longest tenure of the Braves club at any of their various ballparks and cities since 1914.
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Beehive Field is a stadium in New Britain, Connecticut. The ballpark has a capacity of 4,700. It is primarily used for baseball and was the home of the New Britain Red Sox from the time of their move to the city in 1983 until moving next door to New Britain Stadium for the 1995 season. The Eastern League All-Star Game was played before 3,106 fans on June 29, 1987, with league-MVP Mark Grace and game-MVP Dwight Smith representing the Pittsfield Cubs. The Hartford Hawks baseball program used the venue for some home games prior to opening Fiondella Field in 2006.
League Stadium is a historic baseball stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana, United States, located at 203 South Cherry Street. Originally built in 1894, League Stadium is the currently home of the Dubois County Bombers of the collegiate summer Prospect League. The stadium was formerly the home of the Dubois County Dragons in the independent Heartland {1996-1998} and Frontier Leagues (1999-2002) until the team moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2003. The Southridge Raiders, an Indiana High School Athletic Association 3A baseball team, also uses the stadium as home field.
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